News Release

L. Michelle Jones, expert in product innovation, has been invited to participate on the Innovation Panel at the State of the Industry - Food and Beverage Benchmarking Forum presented by the Guelph Food Technology Centre.

ANCASTER, ONTARIO, CANADA- February 15, 2007- Stage-Gate Inc., A Member Company of the Product Development Institute, announces that Michelle Jones, Vice President, Product Management and Innovation will be presenting on the Innovation Panel at the State of the Industry- Food & Beverage Benchmarking Forum on March 29-30, 2007 in Toronto, Ontario. Michelle will reveal the ten (10) practices that discriminate the top performing innovators. Her presentation is based on the recent benchmarking study conducted in partnership with Dr. Robert Cooper, Dr. Scott Edgett and APQC (American Productivity & Quality Center).

This forum showcases how Canadian Food Processors compete in a global marketplace. Opening remarks features The Honourable Leona Dombrowsky, Minister, Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs, Ontario and The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada as well as CEOs from leading organizations such as, Morrison Lamothe, Ocean Nutrition, Genetiporc, Ferrero Canada Ltd. Bioriginal Food & Science, Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, and McCain Foods Canada.

For more information on attending this event, please contact the Guelph Food and Technology Centre at (519) 836-1281.

L. Michelle Jones
Vice President, Product Management and Innovation

Michelle Jones is the Vice President of Product Management and Innovation at Stage-Gate Inc. She leads the transformation of some of the world’s best practice research on product innovation, conducted by Dr. Robert G. Cooper and Dr. Scott J. Edgett, into state-of-the-art methodologies, products and services for companies striving for innovation excellence. Michelle is responsible for numerous successful product launches at Stage-Gate Inc., including several best selling books on Product Innovation, the ‘Executive Seminar Series’, the ‘International Stage-Gate Leadership Summit’ and SG Navigator™ - the popular, web based guide containing the most current practices, standards and methodologies necessary to implement a world-class Stage-Gate Innovation System.

Formerly head of consulting services at Stage-Gate Inc., Michelle has over 15 years of industry and consulting experience and has worked with an impressive portfolio of companies across several industries including Aerospace, Automotive, Chemical, Consumer Packaged Goods, Defense, Electronics, Food, Financial, Industrial Products, and Medical. She has successfully managed several large scale client engagements involving significant global organization transformation including; designing and implementing world-class innovation programs, diagnosing and re-designing new product processes, designing and implementing strategic portfolio management processes and designing and delivering training programs to executive and professional audiences. Some of Michelle’s clients include; Ansell Healthcare Ltd., Avionics, Clorox, Hewlett Packard, ITT Industries, Kennametal, Kimberly-Clark, Markem Ltd., Masterfoods USA, Molson, NightVision Technologies, Owens Corning, Rich’s, Sabic, Schwan’s, Smuckers and US Filter.

Before joining Stage-Gate Inc., Michelle was Senior Manager, Business Transformation Services at BearingPoint (formerly KPMG Consulting Services). Michelle holds a Masters of International Business Administration degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Business Administration degree and Specialist Certificate in Project Management from McGill University. Michelle is also a certified New Product Development Professional with the PDMA, an author and innovation seminar leader.

Michelle can be reached by phone at Stage-Gate Inc. Headquarters at +1-905-304-8797 or by email at .